Take your RI&E to the next level
Annemieke Leegwater is Senior Occupational Hygienist at HumanCapitalCare. She provides support and advice to clients for their RI&E. What does she think are the most common areas of improvement for organisations? “It is important that the principles of the RI&E are clear and that you go through the process properly. It is also essential to actively include psychosocial workload (PSA) and to periodically update the RI&E.”
1. Going through the RI&E process
The aim of the RI&E is to identify the risks and management measures with regard to health and safety at work. Achieving this requires the use of a variety of methodologies:
Speaking to people in your company
Contact an occupational physician, the confidential counsellor and key people within your organisation. This could include a business operations manager, facilities manager, prevention worker and representatives from the work council.
Surveying a section of your employee base
These employees should be asked about their perception of the working conditions. Here, that refers to concrete working conditions such as the indoor climate as well as their perception of workloads, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment. You can collect this information through questionnaires and/or (additional) interviews.
Examining documents
In addition to the interviews and discussions, there is also the examination of documents. As an organisation, what do you have on paper in terms of procedures and health and safety policies? And if your health and safety policy is on paper, do you see it implemented in practice in the organisation? You can find out by doing a tour of the various departments and workplaces and asking employees questions.
Drawing up an RI&E
You then process all this data and record it in the RI&E. This includes assessing risks, identifying root causes for risks, and addressing any missing management measures.
Drawing up a plan of action
With a good RI&E, the organisation can take care of drawing up a plan of action itself. This should use SMART goals, accompanied by measures on how they will be implemented.
2. Explicitly including PSA
An RI&E is still seen by many organisations as a compilation and set of solutions for physical, concrete problems within the company premises. There is often still insufficient consideration given to PSA. With stress-related complaints increasing in recent years, PSA, which includes workload, is a very important topic in the RI&E. “Good policy on PSA issues is not so much about individuals. In the RI&E, we examine the nature and extent of the workload, and the undesirable behaviour inside and outside of the company among employees. We also find out what the root causes are here. This can then be used to strengthen policies at an organisational level by addressing these root causes and enabling conditions to be improved at a fundamental level.”
What are the risks that organisations run if PSA is not adequately included in an RI&E?
- There is a greater risk of burnout when the presence of high pressure work factors that can lead to psychological excessive workload is not properly understood. You only find out once it’s too late and an employee calls in sick.
- If you do not have a sound understanding of the nature and extent of the undesirable behaviour (such as bullying or discrimination) inside your organisation, the signs may only emerge when employees report to the confidential counsellor or leave the company. This can severely undermine the organisation.
- The manager plays an important role in all PSA-related factors: sending the right signals and taking action. Not only at the individual level, but also at the team level.
3. Regularly updating the RI&E
An RI&E needs to be carried out periodically. Changes in the physical work environment are not the only reason for updating an RI&E. Any change within an organisation can be a reason to update an RI&E. This could include a large increase in the number of employees, a new department or work process, or a reorganisation.
Assistance with conducting an RI&E
Does your organisation need help carrying out the RI&E? Please contact your regular personal contact at HumanCapitalCare.